Odds And Ends

Well Maddy got off ok, and has arrived safely home. I'm glad to say that in the last few days in Mexico she really managed to begin living the Mexican life, with such choice quotes as:

"Is that a cockroach, or is there an elephant stuck to the ceiling?"

"Jamie that man just full-on groped my arse."

Of course I went looking for said man, to show him how western democratic justice works, but unfortunately he'd managed to escape me after I wondered slowly in the wrong direction, shaking with fear at the thought of finding him.

If you've been checking my photos recently you may have noticed that a strange Machu Picchu-like structure has cropped up in the middle on Mexico City. Well actually no it hasn't, I just uploaded Diego's photos from the Inca Trail. So that's that mystery solved, now we just have to work out how they got all those stones up there and so perfectly shaped without the use of wheels, metal tools or animals.

A blast from the past of a different jungle trip came in the following form from a fellow Lost City trekker:

i find myself in a weird mood in this current circumstances, kind of summering up my trip and looking back at things in a nostalgic manner; from meeting up with jamie kitson i can say i learnt this short, yet very true line that i found myself thinking about over and over again - "if it`s worth doing, than it`s worth doing well".

It's odd what you leave people with, I don't even remember saying it to him, mostly I asked him what the army was like and tried to keep off the subject of politics. He's Israeli.

Something I meant to mention about Colombia and all of America in general is this road system. The block system. It might be logical and easy to navigate, but it isn't half boring! Colombia though, decided that it wasn't boring enough and numbered the roads. Calling the north-south roads "Races" for some reason. But then Bogota decided that this was too boring and decided to renumber a whole sector meaning that lots of buildings now have two addresses on them, one crossed out in red.

UPDATE - So the phrase "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well" was being applied to drinking, most of the guys were drinking warm rum with warm coke, and I couldn't stand it, I went out and bought a giant bag of ice and a giant bag of limes. If it's worth drinking, it's worth drinking well. And I hope I didn't cause any offence with the Israeli comment, I've liked every Israeli I've ever met.

For A Few Dollars More

Guess I have to say something about Machu Picchu :)

Day 1: We got the bus up to the top of a hill in the poring rain and had lunch in a wooden shack in the middle of high jungle which had a giant corrugated iron bus shelter by it. We left the bikes about a meter outside the shelter. The rain stopped. We cycled for mile upon glorious mile of downhill track past sheer hills and jungle and fjords. The bikes slowly broke, the guides always taking the worst ones, by the end of the ride one guide had no chain and was scooting along, the other's saddle was at a painful looking angle. Got extremely muddy. Rained on and off.

Day 2: Trekked one of the Inca trails, again through jungle and along sheer hillsides, this time just wide enough for perhaps two people. My fear of heights and I got firmly reacquainted. Made friends with a pig at lunch.

Day 3: Seemed a bit pointless, but maybe that's just because it was mostly raining, we walked along a road before lunch and then a railway line after lunch, but we got to eat lots of things along the way. And see Machu Picchu (from below) for the first time.

Day 4: Got up at 4:30am and started the final accent to Machu Picchu. I think having been at altitude for so long has made me a bit fitter, Machu Picchu is relatively low, and quite a few of the others were having difficulty climbing the steps up. Machu Picchu itself are some recent ruins in good condition in an amazing setting. There's a vote on atm for the 8th wonder, they're pushing for Machu Picchu, but I'm not sure. While on the train/bus back to Cusco a fellow Machu Picchuer suggested I fly to Lima, rather than taking the 20 hour bus ride, as you can get tickets for under $60, not a lot more than the bus. Dropped my washing and asked for it by 12 the next day.

Day 5: Had a leisurely breakfast and got to the airport to enquire about tickets at about 10, to be told that the last cheap ticket was at midday, meaning I'd have to check my luggage in at 11. Rushed back to the hostel to see if my washing was ready. It wasn't, but I could go down the road to pick it up wet. Got back in the same taxi, went down the road, jumped out to search for my clothes, once I had found them and got back into the taxi the driver advised me not to leave my bags in taxis in Cusco as drivers often just drive off with them, but luckily he didn't like doing that. Made it to the airport at 11:00, hoping I had remembered to pack everything in my haste and checked in with a carrier bag full of wet washing as my hand luggage.

The first thing that I did in Lima was to check out the markets for cameras. It actually depressed me seeing all these blatantly stolen cameras, I think I was secretly hoping that I might see mine. I'm going to have to buy one from a shop (I'm probably going to buy a compact until the insurance comes through, finger's crossed), I cannot stomach buying a stolen camera. Bloody morals.

Hopefully some of the guys that were on the trek with me will take pity and donate a couple of pictures so that you don't have to just imagine me clinging to rocks along the way :)

Something I heard recently: "It's not that I don't believe in God, I do, it's just that I don't respect him."

Inca Stinka

The two things I find amazing about the Incas is how recent they are, 500 years (after all, they fought the Spanish) and, especially considering that, how little we seem to know about them. Every answer a guide gives seems to start with "Well..." For example I wanted to know why or how the Incas seem to have done so well against a Spanish army presumably armed with much more advanced weapons, and what weapons the Incas used against them. The answers went something like this "Well... there was probably ten Incas to every one Spaniard." and "Well... they might have used clubs with star headed stone heads and slings, we still use them today." We know what ancient civilisations believed created the moon, earth and stars, but did the Incas know that the earth goes around the sun? "Well... they had this sun dial to tell what time of year it was, and when to plant the crops so maybe they did, but maybe they didn't."